The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-05-25
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S sun
DAY SERMON
Subject: "Spris of Heart's-Easc.

TEXT: "And His Disciples ,Uent and told
Jesus" s."-Matthew xiv, 12
An outrageous assassination had just taken
place To appease a revengefui woman
King Herod ordered the death Of that noble,
self-sacri6cing Christian, John the Baptist.
The group of the disciples were thrown into
grief and dismay. They felt themselves ut
terly defenselesS. There was no authority to
which they could appeal, and yet grief must
ALWAYS find expression If there be no human
ear to hear it, then tho agoniZed soul will cry
it aloud to the winds and the woods and the
waters But there was an ear that was
willing to listen There is tender pa
thos, and at the same time most adml-
rable picture, in the words of my text: They
went and told Jesus" He could understand
all their grief, and He Immediately soothed
it. Our burdens are not more than half so
heavy to carry if another shoulder is thrust
under the other end of them. Here We lind
Christ, His brow shadowed with grief, stand
ing amid the group of disciples, who, with
tears, and violent gesticulations, and wiring
ing Of hands, and outcry of bereavement, are
expressing their woe. Raphael, with his
>skillful brush putting upon the wall OF
palace some scene Of sacred story, gave not 50
skillful stroke as when the plain hand Of the
evangelist writes: ''They went and told
Jesus"
The old Goths and Vandals once came
down upon Italy from the north OF Europe,
and they upset the gardens, and they broke
down the altars, and swept away everything
that was good and beautiful. So there Is
ever and anon in the history of all the sons
and daughters Of our race an lncurslon OF
rough-handed troubles that come to plunder
and ransack and put 20 the torch all that
men highly prize. There is no cave so deeply
cleft into the mountains as to allow us shell
ter, and the foot of feetest courser cannot
bear us beyond the quick pursuit The ar
rows they put to the strings fly with unerring
dart, until we fail pierced and stunned.
/ feel that bring to you = most aPProprl-
ate message. mean to bind up all your
griefs into bundle and set tnem Ths on sonIs nre
prescription that cured the sorrow of the dis
ciples viii cure all your ,heartaches. have
read that when Godfrey and his army marched
ont to capture Jerusalem, as they came over
the hills, at the first fash of the pinnacleS OF
that beautiful city, the army that had
marched in silence lifted shout that made
the earth tremble Oh, you soldiers OF Jesus
Christ marching on toward heaven, l. "oulo
that to-day, by some gleam from the palace OF
Gods mercy and Gods strength. you might
be lifted into great rejoicing, and that before
this service is ended you might raise one glad
hosanna to the Lord!
In the first place, Icommend the behavior
Of these disciples to all those in this audience
Who are sinful and unpardoned. There comes
time in almost every mans history when ne
feels from some source that he has an erT1ng
nature. The thought may not have such heft
as to fell him. 1t may be only like the flash
in an evening cloud just after very hot sum-
mer day. One man to get rid Of that impres-
sion will go to prayer; another will stimulate
himself by ardent spirits, and another man
will dive deeper in secularities. But some
times man cannot get rid Of these lmpres.
sions The fact is, when man finds OUT tnat
his eternity IS poised upon a perfect uneer-
maysiip, he must do something violent to
make himself forget where he stands, or else
hy for refuge.
If there ara any here who heve resolved
that they would rather die of this awful can
Ger of sin than to have the heavenly surgeon
cut it out, let me say, my dear brother, you
mingle for yourself bitter cup. You ny In
the face of your everlasting interests. You
crouch under yoke and you bite the dust,
when, this moment, you might rise up
crowned conquerer. Driven and perpie1ed
and harassed as you have been by sin, 60 and
tell Jesus. To relax the grip Of death from
your soul, and plant your unshackled feet
upon the golden throne, Christ let the
tortures of the bloody mount transfx Him.
With the beam of His own cross He will
break down the door Of your dungeon
From the thorns of His own crown He will
pick enough gems to make your brow blaze
with eternal victory. In every tear on His
wet cheek; in every cash Of His side; In
every long, blackening mark OF laceratlon
from shoulder to shoulder; in the grave
shattering, heaven storming death groan,
hear Him say: 9 Him that cometh unto Me,
I will in no wise cast out"
"Oh," but you say, instead Of curing my
wound you want to make another wound,
never known a surgeon to come and find a
chronic disease, and then with sharp caustic
burn it all out. So the grace of God comes
to the old sore Of sin. 1t has long been rank
ling there. but by divine grace it is burned
out through these fires of conviction; "the
flesh coming again as the flesh Of little
child" "where sin abounded grace much
more aboundeth." With the ten thousand
unpardoned sins Of your life, 60 and tell
Jesus. You will never get rid Of your sins In
any other way: and remember that the broad
invitation which 1 extend to you will not al
ways be extended.
King Alfred, before modern time-pieces
were Invented, used to divide the day into
three parts, eight hours each, and then had
three wax candles By the time the first
candle had burned to the socket, eight hours
had gone, and when the second candle had
burned to the socket, another eight hours had
gone, and when all the three candles were
gone out then the day had passed. Oh. that
some of us instead Of calculating our days,
and nights, and years by any earthly time
piece, might calculate them by the numbers
of opportunities and mercieS which are burn
ing down and burning out, never to be
re1ighted, lest at last we be amid the foolish
virgins who cried: ''Our lamps have gone
outl"
Again: I commend the behavior Of the dis
ciples to all who are tempted. have heard
men in mid-life say they had never been led
into temptation. If you have not felt tempta-
tton it is because you have not tried to do
right. A man hoppled and handcuffed, as
long as he lies quietly, does not test the power
the determination resolves to snap the hand
cuff or break the hopple, then he finds the
power of the iron. And there are men who
have been for ten, and twenty, and thirty
years bound hand and foot by evil
habits who have never felt the power
Of the chain, because they have never tried
TO break it. 1t is very easy to go on down wi /
the stream and with the wind, lying on your
oars; but just tIrn round, and try to go
find it is a different matter. As long as we
90 down the current of our evil habit we seem
to get along quite smoothly; but if after a
while we turn around and head the other way,
toward Christ, and pardon, and heaven, oh,
then, how we have to lay to the oars. You all
have your temptation You have one kind,
you another, you another, not one person es-
Gaping
It is all folly for you to say to some one:
II could not be tempted as you are" Inc
lion thinks that it is so strange that the fish
,ho,,lJ ha oou1bt xy;th hook Ths fish thinks